ICE says to buy Interactive Data Corp in $5.2 billion deal

Reportedly outbidding Markit (MRKT -0.6%) and Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ +0.1%), ICE (ICE +1.2%) agrees to buy Interactive Data from its P-E owners for $5.2B – $3.65B in cash and $1.55B of ICE stock.

“This transaction furthers our expansion into meeting the financial information needs of our market participants globally”, said ICE chairman and chief executive Jeffrey Sprecher in a statement.

Global financial markets have experience a wave of consolidation since the 2008 crash, when trading volumes fell off a cliff and new issues were thin on the ground.

ICE said the deal to buy Bedford, Massachusetts-based IDC, which provides financial data to banks, money managers and hedge funds, was approved by the boards of both companies.

ICE, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, noted that the acquisition of Interactive Data will help build on ICE’s market data business by expanding the markets served, adding technology platforms, and increasing new data and valuation services.

Under the terms of the agreement, IDC shareholders will receive $3.65 billion in cash and $1.55 billion in ICE shares. Its shares have risen 18.5 percent over the past year. IDC, which was acquired by the firms for USD3.4 billion in 2010, filed for an initial public offering in July this year in confidentiality with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

ICE expects expense synergies of $150 million to be largely completed by the third year post-closing.